Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 24, 1993 TAG: 9304240305
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: VINCENT CANBY THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It's about a group of men and women in their mid-'30s who return to Camp Tamakwa, the summer camp where, 20 years before, they learned about life, love and sex.
Jennifer (Elizabeth Perkins) is the pretty, wise-cracking one who lost her first great love to someone else. Beth (Diane Lane) is a new widow. Matthew (Vincent Spano) and Kelly (Julie Warner) are married but having problems.
Jack (Bill Paxton), once the group's most glamorous member, is unmarried and at loose ends. Jamie (Matt Craven) is a tireless womanizer, traveling with his "new fiancee," Gwen (Kimberly Williams), a beauty almost young enough to be his daughter. Brad (Kevin Pollack) is the boring one.
The reunion has been called by Unca Lou (Alan Arkin), the camp's owner and a major influence in the life of each of the characters.
He is retiring now and planning to sell Camp Tamakwa.
Crafty, lovable old fellow that he is, he knows that someone will make a bid during this week of carefully programmed nostalgia. So does the audience.
The members of the audience are ahead of "Indian Summer" all the way, not because they know exactly how things will happen but, given the setup, they know what must happen before the movie can end.
The movie is so sincere that it can't be politely knocked.
It's full of lethargic situations that may well have their origins in life. There are a lot of jokes that make the characters laugh louder than the people watching the movie. The jokes aren't great, but they're better than the sometimes embarrassing dramatic moments devised to reveal character.
\ Indian Summer: Showing at the Tanglewood Mall Theatre. Rated PG-13
by CNB